Transcript

0:01
What's up, faithful agents?
0:02
Welcome back to another episode of the Faithful Agent Podcast.
0:06
I am so glad that you joined me today because we have an incredible guest, Jose Fernandez.
0:10
We just met, but I can already tell his heart and love for Jesus.
0:15
And I think he's got a pretty cool story that he's going to share with us.
0:18
So you're going to want to stick around and listen to that.
0:20
But before we dive in, as always, let me share with you a bad dad joke of the week.
0:27
As I was telling Jose at the beginning, as you all know, as you listen, I can't find any more Christian dad jokes that I haven't heard.
0:32
So we're just going with random ones.
0:34
So say, we'll see.
0:35
So here's one that I just Googled.
0:39
I only seem to get sick on weekdays.
0:42
I must have a weakened immune system.
0:46
That's pretty funny.
0:47
I actually like that one.
0:49
That's good.
0:50
A weakened immune system.
0:51
That's pretty funny.
0:52
Well, again, if you're still here listening, Good for you because these jokes are pretty terrible.
0:57
My wife doesn't even listen.
0:59
We've got Jose Fernandez with us.
1:00
He was born in Puerto Rico, then moved to Miami.
1:03
He's been in real estate for 21 years, became a believer 15 years ago.
1:08
But the year after, a day, the day of his baptism, a year later, he went bankrupt.
1:14
And we're going to dive into that.
1:16
He is the leader of the one team because it's all about God at Keller Williams Realty and is deeply involved with BNI.
1:22
Many of you know what that is.
1:23
He's spoken at the state and international conferences.
1:26
Jose, man, I am so glad that you're here, buddy.
1:28
Thanks for joining us on the show.
1:30
Welcome to the Faithful Agent Show, brother.
1:31
much, Gary.
1:32
I'm glad that people are listening right now after the joke.
1:35
I think it was a good joke.
1:36
I give you some brownie.
1:38
It wasn't good.
1:39
you.
1:41
If they leave after that one, there are many other jokes they should have left after that just weren't funny.
1:46
So I appreciate you for that.
1:48
But no, man, I'm so glad that you're here.
1:50
And again, like I said, I can just tell you got a huge heart for the Lord.
1:53
And that's an incredible thing.
1:55
Right.
1:55
At the end of the day, real estate is just real estate, man.
1:57
It's about the gospel.
1:58
That's the mission.
1:59
The method that we have is real estate.
2:01
Right.
2:01
That's how we get the gospel out.
2:03
But certainly we're here to grow our business and our faith.
2:06
We want to do both.
2:07
But man, so you come in from Puerto Rico to Miami, right?
2:11
You've been in real estate 21 years, but six years after you start, you become a believer.
2:15
And then a year after you're baptized, literally you said to the day, you go bankrupt.
2:21
So man, tell us that story.
2:23
enough, so I came to Christ in 2009 and got baptized November 1st of 2009.
2:32
And already I knew that God was working in me in different ways.
2:36
I think God works every day.
2:39
What happens sometimes we're just too busy and we're not listening to what he's trying to tell us.
2:44
And he just sitting there waiting for us.
2:46
So I was done with, I was done with with real estate, my heart has always been in mission.
2:53
So fast forward, you know, it's 2010, full of debts.
3:00
I had lost four properties, had to do short sales.
3:05
Anybody longer in real estate know what short sales are?
3:09
You know, had to return my car.
3:11
I had to let go of my assistant.
3:15
I know.
3:17
What is to eat cereal, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
3:19
Honey bun tits by the way.
3:20
I never changed that.
3:23
And it was very difficult.
3:27
I know what is to have $20 in your pocket, go out there, have to put gas so you can show properties.
3:32
I know what is to swipe your debit card for $17 in public supermarket and it's declined.
3:39
Fast forward, my pride, I had a lot of pride so I didn't want to consider bankruptcy.
3:45
So a friend of mine that saw me a couple of months later said, what's happening?
3:50
And I'm like, I just, don't know what to do anymore.
3:53
You know, I lost everything.
3:56
My credit card all the way to the mats and my business was not well.
4:01
So he said, why don't you do bankruptcy?
4:03
don't you file for bankruptcy?
4:06
Which I did.
4:07
And interesting enough, God works in a mysterious way.
4:12
November 1st of 2010.
4:14
It is in my documents, bankrupt, exactly a year later after being baptized.
4:21
I cry.
4:24
I questioned God.
4:28
I didn't know what this was happening.
4:31
One of the things I would say, know, God, gave you my life and now you're taking everything from me.
4:38
But you know, Garrett, today, Every year after that I celebrate on November 1st.
4:43
My birthday by the way is exactly one month before You see that you see the whole thing with the one the one team one month before and I remember that I Will celebrate both October 1st my birthday on October November 1st So I was done with real estate.
5:03
I was completely done with real estate Today I understand that God is like the Agriculture like the farmer he needs to clear the field He needs to take the weed out So he stripped me from everything everything that was material and I was on my way out of real estate I was done with real estate.
5:25
It was December of 2010 I was done with real estate and I remember it was the last team meeting for our office and Our broker kind of like knew my journey and how I really wanted please the Lord.
5:39
It was in my heart I really was in that love stage.
5:43
And she asked me, do you know the core values of Keller Williams?
5:47
And I'm like, no, I've been here for like a year and a half and no, I don't.
5:52
She go like, God, family, then business.
5:57
And it's like me and you, Gary, we are in the dark room and you come in and you turn the light on.
6:03
And I immediately say to her, so that means that I consider God through my job.
6:08
And she go like, absolutely.
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And that changed things.
6:13
I got out of the bankruptcy in a year using Bible principles and I haven't looked back since, you know, and I celebrate now.
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I thank God for that bankruptcy back then.
6:26
I didn't thank him for it, but today I do because I'm not attached to money anymore.
6:32
Unfortunately, as the Bible says, it's not money.
6:35
It's the love of money.
6:37
And so fast forward.
6:40
2024, God has blessed me.
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I have four properties, have a car.
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So many things have changed, but above all else, I have a better relationship with God.
6:57
Man, dude, that's amazing.
6:59
Well, I think we'll just end it there and just listen to it on repeat.
7:03
Yeah.
7:05
Yeah, no.
7:06
man.
7:06
That's so good.
7:07
I love so many things about that, right?
7:09
Of course.
7:10
And I want it.
7:11
So I want to go back, right?
7:13
You're going through you've been in real estate, I think, at this point, six, seven years when you actually hit bankruptcy, right?
7:19
2010, it sounds like maybe you.
7:22
Is that right?
7:23
Six, seven years.
7:23
Yeah.
7:24
OK.
7:24
So somewhere around there.
7:25
you're in real estate, you're getting ready to quit, right, just give up.
7:30
And the Lord really reveals to you, hey, you can serve me through this business.
7:34
And so it kind of, assume, kind of reinvigorates you, right?
7:37
Well, let's go back though to just kind of how you felt in those moments, right?
7:41
Because exactly what you said, you know, I was talking to a brother of mine earlier today who's in real estate and he's kind of in the space that you're in, not in that he's bankrupt.
7:49
But he's in that space where he's struggling.
7:51
It's been a down year.
7:52
Again, I think it's the worst documented year in our history or something like that.
7:56
It's been a rough year for a lot of agents, right?
7:59
It's been one of our harder years and the Lord's been kind and providing, but a lot of agents kind of struggling in that space of things are not going very well for me.
8:08
What do I do?
8:08
How do I get out?
8:10
And I think it even leads to a little bit of doubting of the Lord's kindness and his provision, right?
8:15
So go back into that space if you can.
8:19
that head space because, you know, however many years later you can look back and say, I'm thankful for what the Lord did.
8:24
And everyone will if we're in Christ, right?
8:26
Because the Lord promises things will be for our good to make us more like Christ, but it's hard in that moment.
8:31
So what did you feel, right?
8:33
As you're going through that season, what were you feeling?
8:36
What was the struggle that was going on?
8:38
if you put the will of emotion, I think I went through all the emotions on that feeling wheel.
8:45
But one thing is like, I decided to believe what the war was saying.
8:50
What was on that Bible?
8:52
And the Bible became my refuge.
8:56
I just went there when I was angry, when I was mad at God, when I was questioning God.
9:04
interesting enough, I just started Living by the Bible principles And I share a story so I just keep going by the Bible understanding that God is my source Like everything comes from him Understanding that is more blessed to give unto receive that so if if I make a hundred dollars I'm gonna keep at least it at least a ten of it back to him and All these things that I started doing without realizing so fast forward it is July of 2017.
9:38
And a leader from the church reached out to me and said, listen, we're going on a men's retreat.
9:44
And during the men's retreat, we are going to do some sessions that are not very Christian or that are not all about the Bible.
9:55
One of the session is the top websites for business.
9:58
The other session is how to prepare for an interview.
10:03
And God put in my heart to reach out to you to talk about the finances in a home.
10:08
And I started laughing.
10:11
I started laughing because I'm like, okay, he doesn't know my story.
10:17
And God put in his heart for me to talk about the finances of a home.
10:22
And I said to him, and he goes like, by the way, it's not a preaching, it's not about beating people with the Bible.
10:32
It's not about that.
10:33
It's more like practical stuff and I said He's a doctor and he's still a very good friend and client of mine I said doctor if you knew my story what I have gone through the last ten months and the way I got out to get my finances straight it was through Bible principles and at the end of the day he said well listen, whatever God puts in your heart and And God put in my heart this lesson session of 10 Bible principles, which I'll be more than happy to share with you, Garrett, and you can share with everybody because this is something that God put in my heart.
11:13
This is stuff that I actually did and helped me get out of the bankruptcy within a year, you know, from making $30,000 in 2010 to making $104,000 the following year, strictly on the word.
11:30
It was through the principles that I just went back and just got closer to God like never before.
11:38
And when you understand that God is the source, it's not the check that is being deposited.
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It's not the deal that is about to close or about to fall.
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Like if you're clear that God is the source, you just grab that word and make it yours.
11:57
And I'm like, God.
11:58
I see my bank account, I can tell you, like I would look at my bank and I'm like, I mean, like I gotta pay my bills in couple of months.
12:06
I don't know how you, I don't know how you're gonna do it.
12:08
I remember it was February of that same year.
12:12
And you know, February is a short month.
12:14
You know, it's only like 28 days.
12:16
And it was like, it was like day 26.
12:19
And I remember I was heading to church and a friend of mine called me, I'm like, hey, listen, There's a mission in Honduras that we gotta help someone there.
12:30
Can you help out with like $250?
12:35
And I know this person is gonna be blessed, that person is gonna be talking about God.
12:41
Anyways, I get to church and I'm like, $250, that's like, I had about $1,000 in my account, that's like 750 left and my bills were like 3,000, 4,000.
12:57
And they were going to come to like a few days on my way home.
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I was, I was driving and God put in my heart.
13:05
Yes.
13:06
Give them money.
13:07
I'm going to back you up.
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was really faith.
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So I called my friends and listen, I'm going to give you the money.
13:15
we'll talk tomorrow.
13:17
Next day I'm in the gym and, and I get emotional because it brings me back to that moment.
13:23
I was in the gym and I get this phone call from this guy in Italy.
13:27
who was the CEO of a client's company.
13:33
He said, hey, ciao Jose, sono Marco, Guido's friend.
13:38
Just wanna let you know that the deal that we were negotiating for like a week or two, it was a $500,000 property.
13:46
He's gonna buy the property.
13:48
So we're gonna sign the deal, but you have been so good to us, helping us manage the property and all that and getting us good deal.
13:56
that I'm calling you because we're going to send you $3,000.
13:58
So I'm just calling you so you can give me your wiring instructions so I can wire that money.
14:07
And I literally just kneel down and just thank God.
14:09
And I said, God, I'm sorry for the time that I questioned you.
14:13
You know, like I gave and I didn't know what you're going to, what you're going to provide.
14:19
And there he was.
14:21
It was the first time I was, I was going to ask to ask a family member for money to pay my bills.
14:27
And I didn't have to do that.
14:29
So God is good.
14:32
So I don't know you that listening to me.
14:34
I don't know what you're going through.
14:35
You know, I I have lost everything, lost everything.
14:40
I know what it is to be like down there.
14:42
I know what it is to have minus in my bank account.
14:44
I know what it to have decline on your debit card when you go to the supermarket.
14:49
And still, God provided.
14:54
That's amazing.
14:56
I mean, I think it's those moments, right?
14:59
like you said, you've continued to say God is the source, which is totally true.
15:03
The world wants us to believe.
15:06
No, no, no.
15:06
It's the amount of work that you do.
15:08
It's your skills.
15:09
And those things are good.
15:10
Like, we should be excellent to honor the Lord.
15:13
That's why we should be excellent, right?
15:14
We should work hard to honor the Lord.
15:16
That's why we should work hard.
15:18
But the world wants to say, no, it's on you.
15:20
If something, you know, if you're crushing it or you're not, that's on you, dude, as opposed to, you know, in 2 Corinthians, now he's talking about the gospel, but Paul says, I planted Apollo's water, but the Lord gives the growth.
15:32
Right?
15:32
Like the Lord is literally is in charge of every molecule in the universe, keeping it in the right exact location so the world doesn't fall apart, right?
15:41
So the universe doesn't just collapse in on itself.
15:44
Can he provide three grand kind of out of nowhere?
15:47
Of course he can.
15:48
Like that's, that's who he is.
15:49
But in those moments, to your point, we just start doubting and, in a different way, Jose, we, my wife and I had a, had an experience where in 2012, we just bought a house.
16:00
we, got married in October, so we buy a house and two months later, so December, 2012, we're asleep.
16:06
And next morning I wake up anyways, fast forward in the story.
16:10
Next morning I wake up and realized we've been, we've been robbed.
16:13
We've been.
16:13
burglarize, I guess is the appropriate term, right?
16:15
So they had come into our house in the middle of the night, they'd gone past our bedroom with our open bedroom door, which is terrifying.
16:22
They stole both of our cars.
16:23
They stole our wallets.
16:24
They stole all our Christmas presents, December 19th.
16:28
And so like you, we still honor this day, right?
16:31
Because of the Lord's kindness, the way he worked in it.
16:33
But anyways, out of that experience, we ended up meeting some of our best friends because he was the police officer that showed up and But I remember a moment it kind of reminds me of you talking about the Lord just showing up kind of showing off right this $3,000 in a really amazing way and a reminder that hey I'm a loving father right and I've got your back so We're sitting there.
16:53
We're on the phone.
16:53
We're trying to figure out what in the world are we gonna do?
16:55
You know, I don't have any credit cards anymore.
16:57
I don't have debit cards like you said I don't have ID he stole our lock box or he or she they never called him stole our lock box so we don't have you passports or so security cars and nothing i'm literally don't know how i can identify myself right so how do i go to the bank how do i get money how do you this how do i do whatever so we wake up i woke up you know six thirty whatever is when all this starts happening around one o'clock that day we lived in a in a neighborhood where the that is older neighborhoods of the post office or postman just walked into liver to mail so he walks up to the door sweet old man And he just gives us the mail for the day, right?
17:33
He doesn't know what anything's wrong, right?
17:34
There's no reason for him to gives us the mail.
17:37
I remember my, wife is on the phone with her mom and upstairs and I'm sitting there.
17:42
opened the mail and in the mail, right?
17:44
Two and a half months after we bought this house, what was it?
17:47
My new driver's license, right?
17:49
I had forgotten to update my address and in the Lord's kindness, right?
17:54
I kind of like you.
17:55
remember I'm just balling and I walk up.
17:58
and my wife's on the phone and i just showed the driver's license she just starts ballin and it is those moments where you know that in your heart you did doubt like lord what in the world how could this have happened to me you know we were okay right physically all the things the lord's kindness in so many ways but it's so easy to doubt and then he still shows up right like this definition, in my opinion, of just such a good and loving Father.
18:24
Now, He disciplines us, right?
18:25
Because that's what a good, loving Father does.
18:27
Hebrews talks about that.
18:28
a good, loving Father that no matter what, even if we doubt, He still shows up and He says, Hey, I love you and I've got you, right?
18:36
Anyways, I just I love your story and I love and I'm thankful, like you said, in the Lord's kindness to show me that as well, even though that was a terrible experience at the time.
18:46
what a gift that the lord does that so it is i love the kissing god is the source i want to come back to this because you've also reference these biblical principles give us some of those manner all of them whatever you know what would you you started acting on biblical principles and in it turned around for you go of the ones that I live by and I will say is probably one of the key to my success not only personally but professionally it's like Colossians 3 23 and It says in all the work you do Gary what is what kind of work?
19:19
all of it.
19:20
Not some of it, in all the work you do.
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Work the best you can.
19:29
Work as you're doing it for the Lord and not for people.
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And I just decided to, like that's one of the birds that I grabbed it and made it mine.
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And when people talk about, why are you so passionate with like all the things that you do?
19:40
I'm like, because I'm not doing it for applause.
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I'm not doing it to get the award.
19:45
I'm not doing it so I'd be able to walk on stage.
19:47
Funny enough, God had taken care of that as well.
19:51
And in all the work you do, work the best you can.
19:54
Work as you you're doing it for the Lord and not for people.
19:59
And I just love that verse because like right now, Garrett, if this is the last conversation I get to have with an amazing agent, I'm gonna do the best I can.
20:10
Because when I go back to the heavenly home, hey God, until my last day, my last breath, I tried to do the best I could.
20:20
You know, it is more blessed to give than to receive, you know?
20:24
And I'll be more than happy.
20:26
So with this, what I wrote, interesting enough, I've been able to share that in Uganda, Africa, at a church.
20:34
You know, all those principles.
20:36
I've been able to share it in Honduras, in Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, because I'm like, When people ask me about my success, it's all because God did it.
20:46
This is how He did it.
20:48
These are the 10 Bible principles.
20:49
This is where in the Bible, and some of them were in the Old Testament, some of them were in the New Testament, and some of those principles were in both of the testaments.
20:57
And these were the practical things that I actually had to do.
21:02
And when I think about my work, and I hope there are realtors listening here, and God has been good.
21:11
I am right now representing the seller of a $20 million property.
21:17
My biggest listing ever.
21:19
Biggest listing ever that I competed with three other realtors.
21:24
And by the way, I competed with the number one agent in the entire county.
21:33
And you remember when I, when I had a conversation with the son of because it was a whole process.
21:38
can tell you guys that the last conversation.
21:41
Seriously.
21:43
I have peace of mind.
21:45
I have peace of mind that peace that surpasses all understanding.
21:48
I'm like, God, if you want me to be this mine, it will be mine.
21:53
And it doesn't matter that that guy has been in business for 40 years.
21:57
It doesn't matter that he has been the number one agent in the entire county.
22:01
It doesn't matter that he has a team of 10.
22:04
but I have the team, I have you, I have the source.
22:09
sometimes we ask Christians, we question God.
22:13
We don't believe what we've been told.
22:15
And that's when we like, we have to test them.
22:18
You know, in Malachi, we see that testing him in our finances.
22:23
So I just think that we serve an amazing God.
22:27
And what a great job that you're doing, Gary, to share great story of.
22:33
faithful agents that have decided to believe God.
22:37
It has not been an easy journey because I cannot tell you in 2009, I in a crying question in God, why me, why me, why not somebody else?
22:46
But I decided, I'm like, okay, I'm just going to get onto that work and I'm going to believe it.
22:52
And I'm still under construction.
22:54
It's a daily journey.
22:57
That's awesome, man.
22:59
I love that, and I want to dive into that, but I want to give you a chance to just share the other biblical principles, but I want to circle back to that one.
23:07
So, okay, she's talking about these biblical principles.
23:09
Again, I love Colossians 3.23, working for the Lord, not for man.
23:12
What would the other ones be, or some of the other ones?
23:14
You don't have to share all of them, but what would some of the other ones be?
23:17
to see if I can find a presentation here since you put me on the spot.
23:22
This is live.
23:23
That's right.
23:24
We're making good points.
23:25
It's like, am I supposed to do?
23:27
want to dive into those a little bit.
23:29
But so while you're pulling that up, then let me just make this comment because I can't obviously agree.
23:33
The scripture says work for the Lord, not for man.
23:36
It's hard.
23:37
Right.
23:37
We're in an industry where we celebrate vanity, where we live and work on social media.
23:43
And so it's about look how great I am.
23:45
Look what I did.
23:45
You know, I got a twenty million dollar listing and writing.
23:48
It's not bad to showcase those things.
23:50
But it's a very close line, right?
23:53
think there's a, line of working for man and man's approval and the line for working for the Lord go a really close, right?
24:02
And I often have to catch myself or a brother, and Christ catches me and says, bro, I think you're a little too much in that man line, right?
24:10
You're not enough in that Lord line and working for the Lord, not for man.
24:15
And to your point, it's not for man's approval, right?
24:17
It's not to...
24:19
for the Lord to celebrate us.
24:21
It's not for the world to say, well done, good and faithful servants, that the Lord would, and there's two distinct paths here, right?
24:30
The reason we're not supposed to be unequally yoked in business is because the stronger ox, right, in the Old Testament, the stronger ox and the weak ox, the stronger ox eventually gonna turn you in circles.
24:42
And so if we're in a position where we're just listening to the world and what the world says, eventually it's gonna turn us in circles and head us in the path.
24:49
athin direction it wants us to go.
24:50
Whether that's make a million dollars but get divorced, right?
24:53
Or be the number one agent but never see your kids.
24:56
I'm not saying you can't do both.
24:57
Don't hear me say that a million dollar agent all of a sudden is a terrible human.
25:00
I don't mean that.
25:02
But it leads us in the wrong direction as opposed to what you're talking about, God being the source and coming back and saying...
25:09
I want to work for you, not for man.
25:12
That doesn't mean that Jose all of a sudden has to have a terrible business to prove how much you're working for the Lord, right?
25:19
I would say quite the opposite.
25:21
It often goes hand in hand.
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Working for the Lord means I spend the time to be excellent at what I'm doing.
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And by being excellent, often the result is the Lord grants me business, right?
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The Lord allows my business to grow and thrive and build.
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And so anyways, mean, 100 percent, of course, behind the principle because it's biblical, but also love just to see that play out in our everyday life inside of our business, but also to encourage and challenge me and agents.
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Those lines are very close and we've got to be really careful that we're not walking the line of man, but claiming the line of Christ.
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Right.
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We need people around us to hold us accountable to that.
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So, all right.
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What you got for us, it.
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number one, is the source.
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You can find it on 1 Chronicles 29, 11, 13.
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It's also on Philippians 4, 19, 2 Corinthians 9, 8, Romans 11, 36, and Psalm 24, 1.
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That's the first principle.
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Principle number two, plan, budget, file, and reconcile.
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Plan, budget, file, and reconcile.
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Luke 14, 28, 30.
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Proverbs 21, 5.
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Proverbs 6, 6 through 8.
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Number three of the principle.
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Pray.
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John 14, 13.
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Psalm 37, 4.
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Like I like that one.
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Like take delight in the Lord and he will give you hard desires.
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Matthew 18, 19.
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1 John 5 14 Principle number 4 Research and get informed Psalm 11, like the first Psalm.
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Happy are those who don't listen to the wicked, who don't go where sinners go, who don't do what evil people do.
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Proverbs 15 22.
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Plan fails without good advice.
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And this is what I love.
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Seriously, Gary, I love what you're doing.
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And the moment I find out about this faithful agent community, I'm like, okay, I didn't know about this.
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I want to be part of this because what he's doing is about this.
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But it says, Proverbs 15, 22, plan failed without good advice, but they succeed with the advice of many others.
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And this is what you're doing through everything that you do.
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like, God is happy.
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He's watching at you.
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I'm like, hey, Garrett, I'm so happy for what you're doing for others.
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Proverbs 24, six, principle number five, invest and diversify.
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And this is in the story of the three servants in Matthew 25th or Luke 19.
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It is also Proverbs 13, 22.
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Ecclesiastes 11, 2.
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Number six, you might not like this one.
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State out of debts.
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Psalm 37, 21.
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Proverbs 22, 7.
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And Romans 13, 7 through 8.
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And I remember like, I max out my credit cards.
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Gary, can you believe it?
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I didn't have a Credit card until last year like I was so fearful of having a credit card that I didn't have it until like January last year so for like what?
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10 years 12 years 13 years.
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I didn't have a credit card.
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So yes, you can live without a credit card.
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I mean I live with 11 12 years Number 7 save Not only stayed out of debt some point number 6 number 7 save progress 21 20 Number eight, tithe and offerings.
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And we could have a whole conversation about tithes and offerings.
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That's on Malachi 3.8.10, it's on Proverbs 3.9, it's on 2 Corinthians 9 through 6 to 8, it's on Genesis 20.22, and Deuteronomy 14.22 to 23.
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Point number nine, giving is essential.
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2 Corinthians 9, 6-8 How much to give is in Deuteronomy 16, 17 Who to give is in Galatians 6, 10 How to give is in Matthew 6, 1 Why give is in Proverbs 19, 17 And the one that we always love on Acts 20, 35 is more blessed to give than to receive And the last principle God money and finances is work rest and celebrate Exodus 23 12 Genesis 2 verses 2 through 3 at sort of 34 21 Colossians 3 17 and the one that I told you Colossians 3 23 and God this our Bible principles that I live by it and I have like a something practical that I did on each of those categories that really got me out of the bankruptcy in less than a year.
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Amazing.
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I love that.
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We're going to have come you back for have you back for part two so we can go into that.
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Right.
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But but I love that man.
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I mean, it is you know, it reminds me so much of you sharing it and you know, more than anything I love.
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not just principle.
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You actually have scriptural reference.
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Right.
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That you can't just make up principles and say the Bible principles.
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They got to come from the Bible.
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And I love that they do.
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But I remember a really pivotal moment for me.
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So I've got this amazing mentor in Richmond.
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name is Butch Joyce.
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wasn't in real estate, he was a high, very high level business owner, built a environmental engineering company that sold it.
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He's in his seventies, he's an elder at a church I grew up in and just loved this man.
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He's got an incredible heart.
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Anyways, years ago, I'm knee deep in this like, self development, right?
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Reading every book I can get my hands on, just consuming so much information and it was working.
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but it was very much what the world would want me to do right just consuming everything in reading every book and listening to every party was insane right when i look back and think about it well i remember i'm sitting down to have lunch with with butch and this is probably i don't know twenty eighteen twenty seventeen twenty eighteen i'm sitting down with him and he had started his business and been in business for about ten years before he became a believer you've been in for six seven years right before you come become a believer So he's been in business about 10 years and then he becomes a believer.
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And I said, okay, well, butch, once you became a believer, like what books were you reading to help you continue to grow your business?
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Cause I was thinking, all right, I'm in this, I'm an obsessive self-development phase, right?
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And I remember his response.
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goes, what do you mean?
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And I was like, what books did you read?
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And he goes, the Bible.
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And I'm like, yeah, I, and I remember saying like, well, yeah, of course, but like what else?
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And he was like, I mean, basically it, yeah, right.
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And I, and I was like, don't, you know, cause I was in that stuck in that phase of like, doesn't make any sense.
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And I was like, I don't, I don't understand.
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What do you mean?
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said, Garrett, if I had an employee who was struggling and I need to have a hard conversation, what would I do?
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I pray I'd read my Bible and then they'd come in right when I had to make a business decision and I wasn't sure what to do, or I felt confident.
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What I do, what did I do?
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I opened up the Bible.
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I read it.
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I prayed.
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I asked the Lord for wisdom.
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And he was like, in every, just kept going through all these situations.
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Right.
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I opened up my Bible.
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I read it.
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I asked the Lord and I did it.
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And.
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It kind of blew my mind at that time, right?
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And I think even now the encouragement of listening to you say that, and I'm going to personally go back and listen to that.
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And I got most of the scripture references, not all of them, as you're sharing.
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So I'm going to listen to them again and write them down and research, right?
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All those things.
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But as we hear those pieces, right?
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All you're saying is, I'm doing business the Lord's way.
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There's plenty of wisdom right there.
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It doesn't mean that you can't go read a book about Mm-hmm.
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and try to some of those principles, right?
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It doesn't mean any of that, but it does mean that your foundation should be built on scriptural biblical principle and say, if the Bible says this is true, then if anything else that I read lines up with it, cool, I can go for it.
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But if what I read in marketing 2.0 disagrees with scripture, then that's wrong.
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And I'm going to go back to scripture, right?
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And so it's what is the foundation?
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And like you said, what is the source?
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of all things wisdom biblical principle in business your life giving all of those things so anyways brother i love that and we're definitely gonna have you on even if no one else gets to listen i might even i'd need look at it that's right at the lake well that they haven't been good for years but I will have one, how about that?
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That is less bad than the others maybe, but no man, that is so good brother.
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And if we weren't at time, I would just dive in over and over and over and we'd get more of these.
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But we're gonna have to have you come to one of our conferences and share that with us.
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I'm gonna have to have you back on the show, which we'll figure that out and get you to share those things.
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So man, I love that.
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I'm just gonna read them one more time for everybody.
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is number one, God is the source.
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Number two, plan, budget, file, reconcile.
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Number three, pray.
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Number four, research and get informed.
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Number five, invest and diversify.
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Number six, stay out of debt.
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Number seven, save.
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Number eight, tithe and offerings.
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Number nine, giving is essential.
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And finally, number 10, work, rest and celebrate.
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What an incredible gift to give that to us too, brother.
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I appreciate that, man.
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So brother, if one of our listeners wants to connect with you or send you a referral, how would they go about doing that?
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can find me on the one team.us on Instagram or Facebook or you guys can look me up Jose Fernandez.
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There's a lot of Jose Fernandez in the world.
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I'm Jose Fernandez2020 on Instagram.
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You guys can find me there.
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And I just want to thank you.
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Thank you for the opportunity for what you do.
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I strongly believe in what you're doing to share God's work to the faithful agents, to agents like me and you that decided to use the Bible as our guide in everything you do, not only personally but also professionally.
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Amen, brother.
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appreciate you.
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Jose Fernandez, thank you so much for being on Buddy.
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Agents, I hope you will listen to this again and again and genuinely go back and listen to those biblical principles.
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And if you're feeling discouraged, If you feel like you're in that tough season, listen to this, be encouraged.
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This is not a story of Jose working his butt off to get himself out of the situation, though he did.
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This is a story and a reminder of the Lord's faithfulness in every season of your life.
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And I hope you'll be encouraged by that.
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So, faithful agents, we love you and I will see you next week.